Hivos and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), are organizing an official side event at the 44th committee for World Food Security meeting (CFS44): “Multi-stakeholder action & food diversity from farm to plate – How can we align global research on diversifying food production and consumption with local perspectives: a Zambian view”. 

Held annually, the Committee on World Food Security is an intergovernmental platform that enables international stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition for all. For more information about the CFS44 and the location, please visit the FAO website.

Side Event

Hivos and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), together with the UN Environment and the Zambian Government are organizing this side event on October 10, 2017 from 18:00 to 19:30 at the FAO premises, in the Iran Room: Building B Floor 1.

Despite their phenomenal productivity, current food systems are not oriented towards delivering healthy, diverse and high quality diets for people. Humans have utilized 7000 food plants over the millennia, however today over 60 per cent of dietary calories worldwide are derived from just four crops – wheat, maize, rice and potatoes. The result is a loss of diversity on the farm and on the plate, with damaging impacts on human health and the resilience of agroecosystems.

The event will launch and present policy recommendations that outline challenges and solutions to diversifying food production and consumption internationally. In addition to the academic view provided, through a short film ‘Life Beyond Maize’ the event will highlight the absence of agricultural and dietary diversity from a local community perspective in Zambia.

Panellists

Gerda Verburg – Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Coordinator
Kayoya Masuhwa – Permanent Representative to FAO for Zambia
Corina Hawkes – Director of Food Policy Centre at City University and expert on International Sustainable
Food Systems Panel (IPES-Food)
Hans Hoogeveen – Dutch permanent representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Seth Cook – Senior Researcher at IIED
William Chilufya – Regional Advocacy Officer Hivos Southern Africa
Moderator: James Lomax, Sustainable Food Systems Programme Coordinator, UN Environment

Contact

The event is accessible to all delegates on the day, however if you want to reserve a seat and for more information about this session, please contact Nout van der Vaart at nvaart@hivos.org.